Departed
by yuu00
Summary: What would you do if you woke up in the Naruto Universe, with little memory of the plot and barely being able to speak Japanese? Lorena doesn't have much of a choice but to try and build a new life in this new world.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Naruto and all its characters they belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own Lorena and any other OC I create.

"Lorena? How long are you going to take? I need to go now!" my mother yelled and pounded on the bathroom door.

"I'm nearly ready, mom!" I shouted back while putting on a light blue blouse. Out of concern for the well-being of the poor door, I grabbed the hair dryer and darted past my mother into my room.

"I've decided. You're getting a punchbag for your birthday," I told her and plugged in the hair dryer.

"I don't need one. I already have Alex," she said and painted her lips brown. Yes, that poor guy was going to be my future stepfather.

"And apparently the door too. But you know, I would rather have no holes, especially in the bathroom door since your boyfriend is going to move in with us!" I shouted, so my voice could be heard despite the noise the dryer made. My hair was long, thus it took a while for it to dry completely. Only my cell phone, which I used to read the news and stalk people with, saved my hair from a meeting with scissors.

"Love how you appreciate me, darling," said Alex to my mother, each words dripping with sarcasm. Actually, he spent more time at our home than his flat, but he still had to move the rest of his things and sell his furniture.

I didn't want to overhear any of their flirting, so I closed the door. It didn't take minute for it to be opened again.

"You can't even stay away from your phone for a minute!" my mother said. I could feel her judging stare.

I only rolled my eyes. We already had this discussion countless times.

"We are going now. There's last night's Chinese in the fridge, okay? And don't forget to hang up the laundry before you go out," she said, glancing at her reflection in the mirror in the hallway. After a short 'bye' and 'don't go back to bed' from Alex, they left the apartment.

I sighed. I still had summer holiday, lucky me. But it'll unfortunately end in a week. Still, it was one more week of being lazy trash. I was fully awake so I didn't go back to sleep, like I usually did. Instead I took the longest time to apply make-up. You could never know who you're going to meet in an art supply store, right? Still, I sucked at using eyeliner and nothing in the world could make the lines even. Well, I could always wear sunglasses.

After I finished my make-up, I glanced on the clock and noticed that the store would open in an hour. I immediately looked on my laptop. Could I?

'But only for 40 minutes. Then I have to go,' I decided. Unsurprisingly, I hadn't turned off my laptop last night, so it took only a short moment to go to Netflix and start the next episode of 'House of Cards'. 40 minutes turned into two hours. I should have seen that coming. I struggled with the temptation to screw my plans for the day and just binge watch the second season. It was hard but I stood up, threw a few things into my purse and like the strong-willed woman I am, went to the underground station.

To get to the specific store I wanted to go to, I had to reach the last underground station, 'Simmering' on the orange line. It would take about twenty minutes, so I sat down on one of the free seats and started to read a book I had taken with me.

'So much for being addicted to my phone,' I recalled irritated. The thought of my prior conversation with my mother reminded me of her request. Damn, I forgot to hang up the laundry. Well whatever, as long as I did it before my mother came home, it would be fine.

As time passed by the underground became emptier, until I was the only person in the compartment. When I finally got out, I looked around. I always forget which exit I have to use.

It was very quiet. Not a single person could be seen. Somehow, I had a queasy feeling. Suddenly the lights flickered. I cursed and headed for the closest staircase. My head was already filled with horrible scenarios. It didn't take much to scare me. I noticed that I had taken the wrong way. Whatever! Now there was nothing I wanted more than to see the sunlight. The lights in the passage to the next stairs were out, but the end was illuminated by the sun. Another swearword escaped my lips. Something felt wrong, but I did not know why. I just wanted to get out. So I ran. A faint hissing sound echoed around me. I couldn't figure out what it was. It got louder and louder.

'I have to go back,' I thought, but also started to feel incredibly dizzy. The world around me distorted and faded. A sudden pain came over my body as if I was pulled by an invisible force. I shouted. The feeling intensified. Then I blacked out.

I woke up with a blinding headache and feeling terribly nauseous in a dimly lit room. I felt relieved, when I noticed, that my body was unharmed, but I still had no strength to even sit up. After a short while I surrendered and fell asleep again.

When I woke up for the second time, I felt slightly better. My back was hurting, because I was laying on a bed without a mattress. When I sat up, I noticed there was a toilet and a sink in the room. Like in prison. A shiver ran down my spine. There had to be a logical explanation! Or was this all a prank, like in one of these TV shows? But what idiot would do something like that to an unconscious girl?

But then.. No.. Was I kidnapped? Why was I not in a dark basement, but somewhere that looked like a prison cell? Did a psychopath prepare a room for his victim beforehand? I panicked and tried to open the door. Nothing moved. It was particularly thick and made of metal, which meant no person, and certainly not me, would be able to force it open.  
I sat down on the bed. What if.. What if I was going to be raped. Or tortured? Oh god, please no. If I only had my phone. But it was gone, as well as my purse and the clothes I had worn that day. Instead I was wearing gray tracksuit pants, a gray t-shirt and hopefully my own underwear. But no bra. Gross, someone had changed me while I was out.

'Should I try to beat the guy up, when he comes into the room?' I thought while biting my nails. 'Surley if James Bond did it, so can I' However, I didn't know how he looked. What if he was a brawny man? Would I be able to defeat him if I ambushed him? I wasn't sure. And if I failed, I didn't want to know what kind of punishment would await me.

All of sudden I heard the lock being opened. What to do? I felt my heart hammering against my chest. As fast as I could, I laid down and pretended to sleep.

'Please, this can't be real. It has to be a prank!'

The door opened slowly. I tried to calm my breathing down as I heard the steps getting nearer. I failed miserably. He knew I was awake. To not start sobbing, I bit down on my lip, but I couldn't stop the tears from running down my cheeks.

A hand touched my shoulder. Abruptly, I stopped breathing.

'Please, just be some TV guy. Please just let it be a bad joke' I prayed in my mind.

He started to shake me. However I didn't want to open my eyes. I didn't want all of that to be reality. I was too scared to even look at that person's face. I heard an annoyed grunt. The voice surprised me. It was high pitched. Like the voice of a woman. Right away I opened my eyes and looked into the face of a young woman, clothed in a gray military uniform. She said something in a calm voice, but I didn't understand a thing. Although there was something about the sound that seemed familiar.. She repeated herself, as if to remind me to answer her. I opened my mouth to say something, so she would notice that I didn't understand her language, but then it hit me. The way that woman ended her sentence.. It was with 'desu-ka?' That was Japanese. And from I could remember it meant something like 'isn't it?'. Yet the person asking that question didn't look like a stereotypical Asian. She had brown hair and green eyes.

'Maybe has foreign parents..'

"Hallo, wissen Sie wo ich hier bin?" I asked her. The woman stared at me bewildered. So she didn't know German. Then maybe English.

"Ehm… Excuse me, do you speak English? Could you tell me where I am?" I said softly. Her face expression didn't change. Did I speak too quietly? Or did she not speak any English at all?

"Ehmm.." I had been once a total anime nerd and had even learned a little bit of Japanese. But that was a long time ago and I've forgotten most of it.

"I'm from Austria. Ehh. Ousutoria-jin desu." I tried my best but the there was no look of recognition on the woman's face. What the hell. I knew Austria wasn't the biggest country, but to not even know the name?

I tried to look for other Japanese words in my brain. What was 'Japan' in Japanese.. 'Ni..hon'? Yes, it was 'Nihon'.

I pointed to the ground and asked: "Nihon desu-ka?"

No reaction. Damn it, if she spoke Japanese, shouldn't she know the name of her homeland? Or was I mistaken and it was some other language, she was speaking?

The woman also didn't know what to do with me. She said another few things in her language and it was my time to look at her puzzled. She then went to the door and made a hand gesture to follow her. At least this meant the same here. We went through a long corridor with many doors like the one in the room I occupied. So it was a prison, huh? And my guide here was some kind of prison guard. She stopped in front of a door and opened it. Inside was a room with only a table and two chairs in it. Great, an interrogation. Did I land in North Korea or something? Nah, impossible. And what business could someone have with me? No one ever got jailed for falling unconscious in the underground station.

The woman pointed on the chair further away from the door. I nodded and sat down. Minutes passed, but no one came. The woman was standing stone faced next to the door. I was getting hungry, but I knew that she hadn't let me leave that room I slept in to dine. The last thing I had was a sandwich and cacao for breakfast yesterd.. wait, I didn't know how much time passed. Was it still the same day? Maybe I would get some answers soon. But no one came. Slowly, I got bored. Why did they let me wait for so long? It had been what? Twenty minutes? Thirty? I felt anxious of not knowing time, date and place I was. If there was at least a window.. I started to drum my fingers on the table. Should I try to talk to the woman again? But how? I could try with hand signs. I looked up to her. She hadn't moved a centimeter for the last, what.. 40 minutes? Well, I'm glad I didn't have her job. I thought of putting my head on the table and sleep a bit, but I didn't want to make a bad impression. I wanted to get taken serious.

Finally, the door opened and a tall, gruff looking man with two large scars on his face came in. Oh my god, now I wished he would go away. He looked like someone who had no problems watching small kittens drown.

The woman stopped him before he could sit down and told him something. He just snorted like if he wanted to say "Yeah, right." and looked at me with grotesque amusement. My hands wandered immediately around my stomach to hug myself. The man sat down and watched me for a while. His look wandered all over, from my hands, dwelling on my carefully painted nails, to my upper arms, then to my face. Oh god, my make-up! I probably looked more like a panda than a human.

He tried to hold eye contact with me, but I couldn't handle his piercing gaze and looked to the ground.

Finally, he spoke. His voice was very low. Whatever he said seemed to hold a promise of pain if he didn't like the answer. I couldn't make myself speak. He kept on talking. I didn't even try to listen to his words, since I couldn't understand a thing. Suddenly he hit the table. I winced.

This couldn't go on like that.

'Get a hold of yourself. Not talking won't help at all,' I tried to encourage myself. I took a deep breath and looked in that man's eyes to show him I was being honest.

"Ich komme aus Österreich. I'm from Austria. I don't understand you." If it surprised him, it didn't show on his face. Maybe I should try out my embarrassing Japanese abilities again. There was a possibility he knew Japanese unlike the guard.

"Austria-jin desu. Ehh Watashi-wa…" He nodded as if to tell me to continue. Did he know Japanese or was their language similar to it?

"Watashi-wa.." I tried again. What was 'talk'? Or 'understand'? Whatever. I pointed at my mouth, then on the man and woman and made an 'X' with my arms.

He gave me a look.

'Well I'm sorry, that I only remember words like 'kawaii' and 'baka'.'

He then took something out of his pocket and put it before me. I raised my brows the moment I identify photos of the etiquette on my water bottle, some of my old bills I hadn't thrown out yet and the book I had in my purse. Why were they showing this to me? I mean I knew I shouldn't have bought an apple strudel, since I was trying to lose some weight, but that was it. Was this all a weird dream?

The man said something. What did he want me to do? Did he not realize I really wasn't acting? Okay, what did these pictures have in common? Why did they not show me a photo of the other items I had in my purse?

'Ah, stupid me, the language. It is all in German. Hmm, so what? Can't they find someone who understands me based on this information? What's the deal with all of this?'

I looked the man in the eyes and shrugged. I didn't know what he wanted me to do upon seeing these photos. Suddenly start speaking his language? I was getting tired of all of this. The man didn't care and talked more nonsense. It went on for what felt hours. First, I was again trying to make him understand me, but it didn't work. After some time, I felt like all my struggles were a waste of time and stopped reacting at all. I was just so tired and hungry. I didn't care anymore. I would even be glad if they just took me back to my cell, so I could have some sleep. The longer I stayed silent, the angrier the man got. He hit the table again, but I didn't even want to look at him. Then I felt a hand pulling me up by my collar. I stared wide-eyed at my interrogator, tears filling my eyes. His look didn't become any less harsh when I started to sob. However he let my go, at least. He then took the photographs and stood up. Before leaving the room he said something in a cryptic voice and left.

I just put my face into my hands and sighed out of relief. I looked expectantly to the women. Maybe I could finally leave. However, she still didn't move from her position. Time passed. Minutes, hours? I had no idea. I gave up on the hope of getting anything to eat. Hunger wasn't even the worst, thirst was. I wouldn't care if I didn't get anything to eat for the next days if I only could drink some water. I got so desperate that I tried to talk to my guard, but she ignored me. When I tried to come closer to her, she took out a dagger. A little scream escaped my mouth and I returned to my seat. I looked around the room to find something to catch my interest. But there was nothing. Even the walls were all smooth, without a scratch or dirt. How much longer?

Hours went by. Or was it minutes? I tried to count, being too tired to think of anything, but I messed up after counting up to four minutes and about 37 or was it 47 or even 49 seconds. I wanted to start counting again, but the door finally opened and an old man with round glasses and a bold head came in. I immediately felt a little livelier. My eyes wandered full of curiosity to his bags. Food and drinks, maybe? To my disappointment he took out a tube that looked like something out of the cosmetics department and said something to my guard. As the last word left his mouth, she vanished and reappeared behind my back. I had no time to scream before I felt my hands being cuffed down. All the tiredness gone I looked from the man to the woman. What did they want from me? Why did I have to be in handcuffs? Would it get worse? I could already see myslef hanging on a wall, blood splattered all over my body. I wouldn't be able to take it. It would take five minutes of whipping to have me begging for them to kill me.

Then my eyes fell to the make-up remover pads and I felt myself relax. So I did look like a zombie. But why couldn't I clean my face by myself? Where they afraid I would use a mirror and some pads for a grand escape? Then I felt my guard carefully starting to clean my face. Oh wow, she really had a horrible job.

In the meanwhile the old man took a large format camera out of one of his bags and put it on a tripod. Weren't they used in the late 19th century? Maybe some vintage fan.

After I was deemed to look good enough, the man took a photo of me and left. My hands were freed again. I hoped it was the photograph's fault, why they kept me so long in this room. Yet minutes passed by and nothing changed. My head started buzzing. I slowly felt my eyes closing themselves. I didn't care, I just didn't care. I let my head sink to the table, but the second my forehead touched the tabletop, I felt a hit on my back. At once I was sitting straight up. My guard was already standing in her position. How fast could she be? Was she even human?

Only a few minutes passed and I was falling asleep again, but I was stopped by the female guard once more. So they wanted to tire me down into submission, hoping to get their answers.

After this revelation I wanted to stay stubbornly awake to show them, whoever 'them' was, that they couldn't crush me so easily. I tried. Really, I tried. And what made me probably the angriest was that I failed. I felt embarrassingly weak. But I couldn't do anything about it. My body was shutting down regardless of what I was doing. My stomachache started to hurt and I also needed to go to the toilet. Still, I was too tired to argue with the guard. I tried even harder to stay awake, by biting my lip and digging my fingernails into my arm. I was afraid I would pee myself if I relaxed for a minute. In spite of my new found will, I blacked out. It was probably only a second. The guard didn't even hit me, so it could be only a few seconds, yet I could feel the warmth of my pee running down my otherwise frigid body. I couldn't take it anymore. I felt my chin tremble as I burst into tears.

'What have I done to deserve this treatment? Oh god, just someone, why can't someone save me? If there is a god, please, please just get me out.'

I cried hysterically for a long time. None of my tears made the world change, nor did it make some hero appear. They couldn't even make the guard look my way for a second. I was alone.

I felt as if I was going insane. I saw something appear, just a flicker at the edges of my visual field, but it disappeared before I could look directly at it. What was it? Was it even real? Was I hallucinating or did 'they' try to make me go crazy? Ha, or was I already crazy? After how many hours without sleep did a human start hallucinating? I couldn't remember. How long was I there? Was I sleep deprived or crazy? What was I? Where? Why, why. I was so stupid. God, please help me if you're there. Mom, I was so helpless. Someone, just someone..

I blacked out.

I was woken up with a bucket of cold water. I screamed and covered my head with my arms. No punishment for falling asleep came, so I looked around. I was still in the same room. At least I wasn't feeling as miserable as before, but I still wasn't fully rested. I noticed that the female guard was replaced by someone new. A short man with black hair and dark eyes. I wished knew when it happened. Nevertheless 'they' could always change the guards irregularly to fuck even more with my sense of time. The other man in the room was the one with the scars. I already had the pleasure to meet him.

The next hours where similar to the last interrogation. It went nowhere. I was scared 'they' would decide to use violence soon. I read once on the internet that one could kill himself by biting of his tongue, but I didn't think I could do it even if I was going to be physically tortured. But there wasn't much I could do. Maybe I could somehow give them a satisfying answer if I could get some paper.. Just anything to make them not hurt me.

I already decided that their language must have been a bit similar to Japanese, since they recognized some of my poor vocabulary. I tried to think hard for the worlds for 'paper' and 'writing' or 'drawing'. Unfortunately the only word that came to my mind was 'benkyou' meaning 'learning', which didn't help at all. Instead of trying to think of another verb, I moved my hand as if I was writing. Scarface nodded and said something to the guard, who only answered with a short 'hai' and left the room.

Not long after the male guard reentered the room with a few sheets of paper and a ball pen. At least they weren't scared I would try to kill them with a pen. If I could, I wouldn't be there.

I thought about what I could draw, but I was still too tired to have any clever ideas. So I started to draw the world map, mostly concertinaing on Europe. The other continents were mostly blobs. I also drew some waves, where the seas were. I marked Austria with an 'X' and went on to the next sheet, where I tried to draw my last memories before my appearance in the cell. I drew myself walking between buildings, in the underground station, then fainting and waking up in the cell. It was hard to draw a comic without words and I was seriously hoping that Scarface could tell what all the face expressions on my character meant. Well, at least I tried.

Scarface must have been satisfied for now and even let me be escorted back to the cell. By the time the door was closed I greedily stormed to the sink and drank. Then I washed my face and sat down. I could at least try to wash myself in the sink. There was no soap, but it was better than nothing. I also took of my pants and underwear (yeah, also not mine), which were reeking like piss and sweat and scrubbed them in the crotch area. I hung them up on the side of the bed and went to sleep. At this point I didn't mind the bit of nudity. Better this than this sickening smell.

When I woke up I found a food tray on the floor next to the floor. It was a good idea that I decided to sleep with my head closer to the door, so no one had to look at my naked butt, when they came in. There was a glass of water, a bowl with rice and bless them, even an apple.

'Wow, 'they' must have really liked my doodles,' I thought and began to eat. The rice was sadly already cold and without any salt, but thanks to my hunger that meal tasted like one of the best in my life. Afterward I felt just heartbroken, thinking about all the meals I had spent with my family and friends. My mother.. I hoped she wasn't crying too much. I was glad she had Alex. They probably phoned the police already. I hoped they would find me soon.

I myself didn't know what to think of this situation. The people who held me captive wore some kind of military uniform. Were they part of a cult? Was this why it was so hard for them to find someone who spoke German?

Unexpectedly, no one bothered me for a long time. I grew tired again and went back to bed. I could never know when they would decide to not let me sleep again.

I woke up with stomach cramps and feeling horribly sick. I ran to the toilet and barfed. I flushed the toilet and felt immediately depressed about the loss of the food. What was happening? I touched my forehead. Too hot. I instantly put on my underwear and pants, which were a bit damp. Damn it, washing them was the stupidest idea of my life. I ran again to the toilet. My faecal was fluid. I panicked. What if it got worse? I had nothing, no medicine, no blanket to keep my body warm and not even some damn tea. What could I do? I went up to the door and banged on it until I had to relief myself again. Then I went back to the door. What took them so long? Did a guard need to contact some higher-up before he could talk to me? Worn out, I laid down on my bed. My whole body began to shiver. Why did my body react like this anyway? I was usually a healthy person. The food.. Ah, now it was all clear. Maybe I was in another part of the world and my body didn't get used to the foreign bacterias and viruses. I sighed. I could only hope that no one would come in while I was sitting on the toilet.

I heard the door open and some other man entered the room. I didn't stand up, but instead put my hand on my forehead. He came closer, maybe to examine me, but I sprung up to get to the toilet again. At least 'only' to barf. He must have been startled by my action, because, when I looked his way, he was putting away his dagger.

He said something, I hoped 'I will get some help' and left my cell.

Apparently, I was somewhat right, because the next time my door opened the man from before was standing beside a tall and buff man. When I saw the handcuffs, I didn't felt any fear. As long as they could do something about my illness, I would be happy. The blindfold, well.. I wasn't particularly overjoyed by it, but it couldn't be helped. Then I felt one of the guys lifting me up and carrying me away. I must say, that man was barely human. The speed he ran and how far and high he could spring was insane. I had to hold in my barf as best as I could, to not to throw up on him since he had already to carry the smelling-worse-than-a-trash-can me. Even if he was part of the group, who were holding me captive, I decided I wouldn't just barf on the next best person like a wild animal just because I could. This wouldn't be the right way of getting back at 'them'.

I regained my vision in a hospital room..? I was sitting on a soft white bed with a bucket, I already barfed into, between my legs. A woman with brown hair and a kind smile said something to me. I looked to the buff guy, who didn't abandon me and was guarding the door. He said something to the woman and helped me change my position. After I was lying on the bed, the woman came nearer. Probably to examine me.

I gasped, when I saw a green light coming from her hand. What the hell?

I tried to get away.

'What is this? Freaking magic? '

The woman said something and the man started to hold me down. He was too strong for me to break free. I waited for something, for pain, but nothing came. The woman touched my upper body with her fancy green hand and that was it. Or maybe there was some deeper magic-hand philosophy I didn't understand, because the woman was staring afterward at me like there was something very very wrong with my body. I felt as if she was going to tell me I had cancer. Well, maybe I had and she just couldn't tell me because of the language barrier.

I stayed for a few days more in the hospital room. The door was always closed and guarded, but at least the room was comfortable and clean.

There was still no window. I missed the sun and nature. What I would do for a walk in a park!

I didn't complain much, since I got regular food now. It was all easily digestible and boiled. And what excited me nearly as much as the food was my private bathroom with a shower! No more smelling like rotten eggs! Still I didn't get any conditioner or a good brush, so I still had problems with brushing my blond curls. My skin was also getting really dry and I just wished I could get my hands on a moisturizing cream.

My fingernails also looked really messy, because the paint was staring to wear off. Well, I could hardly wait for my eyebrows and other body hair to grow out to complete my hobo look.

I was very curious about the place I was staying in. I still wasn't sure if it was a hospital. And if it was, was it controlled by that cult or mafia group? Besides, why would I be held captive in such a group? My family wasn't rich and I wasn't sold to prostitution, so what could it be?

After five days (now I could count thanks to the meals), I was fully recovered. Nonetheless, I was still regularly examined. I was eager to know why. Could it be I had a serious illness, I had no idea about? That was what I needed in this moment. Or was the doctor experimenting on me..? No, that couldn't be it. Why would someone kidnap a European to an Asian country instead taking advantage of the poor in their surroundings. Or at least looking for possible victims in nearer countries.. Argh, I had no idea what to think.

Even in that nice room, I still felt anxious. I had a hard time falling asleep. I was also often waking up, afraid of getting hit again for falling asleep. As I got healthier, I got even more fearful. What if 'they' want to take me back to the prison, now that I recovered? The interrogation room came to my mind and I felt all colors fade from my face. I wished I could do something. Fight my guards and run away? But I wasn't that disillusioned to try. I knew too well that even if I started training right now, nothing would come out of it. These people had probably trained for most of their lives, if even the guy, whose job is only to guard me was incredibly athletic. There was no way to catch up now. All I could do is wait.

Days passed and finally on the eleventh I woke up in another room I have never seen before.


	2. Chapter 2

I own nothing, I am nothing, please dear god nebulously defined copyright holders don't sue me

I saw a familiar baroque church tower. The walls were cream colored and the clock, near the top, was mostly teal blue. Only the outer circle with the gold-plated roman numbers were black. The copper sheets which the roof was made out have already been oxidizing for a long time and were partly green. I recognized this place as the church in my hometown, a little village called 'Schützen'. It was were I used to lived, before my mother decided to move to Vienna.

Suddenly the church bells began to ring. Just like on the day my grandmother passed away. I remembered sitting in the garden, tears streaming down my cheeks, while listening to the bells that announced her death. But for whom were they ringing this time?

My eyes opened and met with a wooden ceiling I didn't recognize. I immediately sat up and frantically looked around. I was in a typical asian styled room. It had nice tatami flooring and three of the walls had sliding doors. The only furniture in the room was a wooden coffee table in the corner. I stood up from the futon and went to the door, that consisted of a bamboo grid covered with translucent paper, making it the only source of light in this room.

They wouldn't be so stupid, would they? I paused right in front of that door. Should I try? Or would they punish me if I tried to open the door? I struggled not to think about Scarface and raised my hand to touch the paper. My heart was beating loudly against my chest. Only a few millimeters separated me from the outside world. I could probably pierce through the paper with my fingers.. Suddenly a vision of the church tower came to my mind. I felt a shudder running over my body and I jumped back. This could be all a test to assess my behavior. Maybe if I was going to be obedient they would also treat me with kindness.

And not send me back to 'that' room.

I turned around and decided to check out the other doors. Like I already guessed, one of the doors lead to a tiny bathroom. The more or less one meter long bathtub, toilet and sink were all squeezed into the small space. There was also a mirror hanging above the sink, but I was too scared to see my reflection. In my mind, I still thought of myself as the same girl from before this whole… incident. Someone neat and healthy… Who knew how much I changed since that fateful day..

My eyes fell to the shelf above the sink. They left me an unpacked toothbrush, toothpaste and brush. I also noticed the shower gel, shaving cream and shampoo on the side of bathtub.

I went back to the bedroom and opened the other sliding door. I was amazed to find out that it was a wardrobe. It even had a blanket, towels and changing clothes in it. On the bottom was a huge amount of water bottles. Wow, they really spoiled me. I tried not to think about how some stranger had to know all my sizes to buy me clothes.

I was glad there were some bras, but why were there only yukatas? Didn't people wear them on special occasions? Why not pants or at least a skirt? The worst part was that I wasn't even sure how to wear it. Well, I had no other option but to try.

I choose the plain light green yukata and went to the bathroom. I threw the baby blue nightgown I was sleeping in on the floor, showered quickly and brushed my teeth. Beneath the sink was a small box in which I found hair ties, razors, tweezers and sanitary pads. By looking at the amount of the pads, I could only assume I would stay here for quite a long time. I tied my hair and went back into the other room. I spotted a few bowls and a cup on the table. I was glad I got breakfast, but why after I already brushed my teeth?

I sat down. There was miso soup, rice, something that was probably fried tofu and green tea. Not something I would ever have for breakfast, especially since I wasn't very fond of tofu, but who was I to complain. Maybe it was lunch and I just didn't know. I still had nothing to measure time.

Before I started to eat, I moved the table, so I could look at the sunlight shining through the paper of the sliding door. I started to eat the soup, but I wasn't fully happy. Never in my live was I so bothered by the emptiness of a room. I went to the wardrobe and took out the blanket and a few socks and placed them on the sides of the room. After I pulled the futon into my vision field, I sat down again and began to eat.

Even though I wasn't full, I left a few fried tofu and hid them in a clean towel in the wardrobe. Now I had something to eat if they ever decided to punish me by starving me again. I could only hope none of the guards were observing me.

There was nothing for me to do. I looked for hidden cameras, but couldn't find any. Later on I laid down on my side and stared at the entrance. I wasn't really hoping for someone to come in, but if someone did, I wished to catch a glimpse of the world behind that door.

I thought about my dream. I was glad I could see a small bit of home, even if it made me think of things I would rather not. How long had I been missing? Mom and Dad would probably look for me for years, but the others? My friends, classmates, teachers? Some probably thought I was dead. Not many survived kidnapping.

Eventually, I heard footsteps. I sat up and combed the hair at the top of my head with my fingers. My stomachache shifted uneasily, when I saw two silhouette through the paper wall. Two women, both wearing a yukata, came in. While the young one put the empty dishes on a tray and left the room, the old woman sat down on one side of the table. I didn't even care much about their actions. I was too amazed by the sight of the outside world I saw for a few seconds. The green of the grass, the single tree in the middle. How mesmerizing.

My thoughts were interrupted by coughing. I turned around and saw the elderly woman looking tight lipped at me. She stood up and gestured me to also do so. I was straight away on my feet as she started to approach me. I instantly felt the fear rise in my heart. The woman was old, but looked really strict. She could always ask someone from her sect to punish me. When she took my messily tied obi and showed me step by step how to tie it, I relaxed again. Then she took her seat by the table and looked at me.

In a flash I sat down on the other side of the table and looked expectantly at her.

She then put her hand on her sternum and said in a calm voice:

"Watashi-wa Koyama Fuzuki."

Next she pointed at me.

"Koyama-san," I said and pointed at her, to show her I understood what she meant.

She then shook her head and corrected me:

"Koyama-sensei desu."

I looked at her with widened eyes and quickly corrected myself:

"Ahh, Koyama-sensei. Hai, hai." So she was going to be my teacher.

I also put my hand on my chest and told her my name.

"Watashi-wa Roth Lorena."

She nodded and smiled.

"Hajimemashite, Roth-san."

"Hajimemashite, Koyama- sensei," I replied to her, happily recognizing the long word as 'nice to meet you'.

After our short exchange, she rummaged in her handbag and took out a picture book. The first page had a simplistic drawing of a shiba inu dog. The cuteness of it made me even smile bit. Then I remembered who I was in the room with and looked at Koyama-sensei with a straight face.

She pointed with a finger at the picture and said slowly:

"Inu desu."

I nodded. So that's what the 'inu' in 'shiba inu' meant.

When I repeated the word, she turned to the next page, which showed an adorable dappled bunny.

"Usagi desu." Ah, Sailor Moons name.

"Usagi desu," I said after her and started feeling a tad bit stupid. I knew there was no other way for me to learn the language if they didn't want to get me a teacher who knew German or English, so I went on repeating all the words sensei said.

In the next hours I learned the names of animals, basic food products and the numbers up to ten. I was familiar with some of them, like neko/cat, ringo/apple and ichigo/strawberry, but most of the words were new to me. It wasn't a large amount of vocabulary, only about 40 to 50 in total and I wasn't sure how much i would remember the next day.

In the end we repeated all the vocabulary I learned that day one last time and Koyama-sensei left with a 'Sayonara'.

I stared at her retreating back.

'Why not take her as a hostage?' the thought shot to my mind. I could easily overpower the old lady. I wasn't a very athletic person, but even someone like me was for sure stronger than some grandma.

I had no weapon or hard object in the near, but I knew that a strong blow on the back of the neck could kill a person. Would they let me go if I threatened to kill her?

Then she turned one last time around, smiled at me and closed the door. I immediately felt horribly. Even if Koyama-sensei was part of that group, I couldn't harm her. If she only didn't treat me so kindly, I could probably find enough wrath in myself to attack her. I sighed. In the end I was too much of a peace-loving softie.

Lunch and dinner came and went. I was so bored, I repeated all the words I learned that day. Afterward, I hummed or sang quietly a few of my favorite songs. Many from the 'Rumors' album by 'Fleetwood Mac', some hits by Ed Sheeran and then just a few slow love songs. My strength definitely wasn't singing, but it filled my time. Unwillingly, my mind wandered again and again to the sight I had seen before. That tree. It was full of little green buds, even though it should be summer. I didn't want to think about what this could mean.

After another restless night I was woken up by a knocking. I nearly sprung out of the futon. My eyes met the unhappy face of Koyama-sensei. She said something to the maid, who was leaving with my uneaten breakfast and then pointed meaningfully at the bathroom.

"Gomenasai!" I apologized and left the room hastily with fresh clothes. I took the fastest shower in my life and left the bathroom. Upon seeing me, sensei sighed and helped me once more with my obi.

The first word I learned that day, was the word for 'sock', since sensei had to point out, that they should be on my feet or in the wardrobe and not scattered on the floor again.

Afterward, we repeated yesterday's words and then we concentrated on new nouns. I learned more words for food products, colors, furniture and clothing pieces. I was excited when she took out a sheet and started to teach me hiragana. After I remembered the sound of half of the signs, Koyama-sensei took out a notebook and made me write them. I was so absorbed in my lesson, that I was surprised when the maid reappeared with my lunch and a red alarm clock. It was 13:15. I smiled happily to myself. Koyama-sensei turned on the alarm and pointed at the number eight. Then she said her name and put her finger on the number nine. I nodded. So it would ring at 08.00 and she would come at 09:00.

I was glad that she left me the notebook with a sheet with all the Hiragana and two bullpens. I carefully wrote all of the hiragana signs I learned on the last page and their sound with Latin letters next to them, as well as all the words I lcould remember in romaji (representation of Japanese in Latin script) and their translation in German. It frustrated me to no end, that I forgot a few of the words I had learned.

Not long before 15:00 I was done with my list and practicing writing Hiragana. I played with the thought to doodle on the edges of my noun list. Could I? I really missed drawing, so why not?

I drew roses, lilies, bunnies, mountains. Nothing very serious. I thought about drawing my mother, but I gave up the idea. If one of the group members where to see me drawing a person, how would they interpret it? Still, I missed my mom and my dad. I wished I could see them soon again. Also my friends. Annika and Pia were my closest friends since we were 15. I hoped they were doing fine. My disappearance must have really shocked them. I really wanted to talk to them now. It has been so long since I had a normal conversation. What would I do to in that mundane classroom again, chatting with Pia and Annika about the latest movies, complaining about homework and waiting for the beginning of the next class. Gosh, if I didn't get out soon, I would have to repeat a year. I couldn't bear the thought of all of my classmates leaving me behind. Especially since it was my last year of school.

I woke up the next morning by the alarm scaring me half to death. I blushed when I realized it was just the clock. Hopefully, there were no guards looking through holes in the wall. I checked for those and there were none, but maybe I missed something.

I chose to wear the cute baby pink yukata and waited impatiently for the arrival of my teacher. Koyama-sensei came with even more picture books. Most had the name of the item in the picture written under in Hiragana and sometimes even in Kanji. I learned more nouns, like jobs, shops and items found in a house. I worried, that in some instances I falsely interpreted the meaning of the picture. And how hard would it be to learn verbs? Many words would be difficult to show through pictures and mimes.

While I was in thoughts, Koyama-sensei skimmed through my notebook and discovered the last pages with my vocabulary list and doodles. Her brows rose at the sight of the unfamiliar letters and she stared at the page for a while. That day, she left with my notebook.

I was mad at her for taking away one of my limited pastimes, but forgave her the next day when she gave my notebook back and presented a A3 sketch block, a rubber, a sharpener and colored pencils to me. I wasn't sure if I would ever get a new sketch block from them, when I would have used up all the pages, so I decided to plan carefully what to draw. My first piece was going to be a view on the Neusiedler See. I was usually more into expressionism, but that day I felt like drawing something nostalgic. My parents and I had often rented a paddle boat to swim to the middle of the lake. It wasn't very deep with its maximal depth of 1,8 meters, so I had never felt unsafe swimming that far away from the shore. These were one of my most fond memories. My parents marriage fell apart after my father had chosen to move to Salzburg for a new job and for, apparently, a new lover. I had first hated him for leaving my mom and I, but I still missed him. Now, that we were finally patching up our relationship, my kidnapping just had to happen. I also was finally ready to meet his new lover, who was pregnant with my little brother. There were still so many things I had to do at home.

After a three weeks I started to build basic sentences. Through miming gestures, I learned a few verbs. It wasn't much. Now I could say 'I eat an apple' or 'I don't see the cat.'. Still, it felt immensely satisfying . The day I would be able to communicate with these people and get some information on my situation came a little bit nearer.

One day, Koyama-sensei seemed to be in an incredibly good mood. Maybe it was her birthday? Our lesson went on like usually, but instead leaving after it ended, she told me to follow her.

First, I just stared at her. Did I hear right? She just smiled and repeated herself. I slowly went to the entrance. Next to the door I noticed an extra pair of flip-flops made out of rice straw.

"These are yours," Koyama-sensei said while putting on her own flip flops. I thanked her and put them on. Then I looked up and laid my eyes the breathtaking little garden I had seen a few times. Koyama-sensei stood by the tree and said an unknown word to me and with a wave beckoned me to come closer.

That's how I learned the word 'come'.

A little bit unsure I stepped out from under the roof to the end of the veranda. I noticed I was in an inner yard.

'How long..' I looked up to the sky. It was a perfectly beautiful day with no clouds in the sky. After a month I could finally feel the warmth of the sun on my skin.

I felt my eyes tear up. How delightful. If I was by myself I would most likely cry my eyes out.

I went up to Koyama-sensei. Was she ordered to bring me somewhere? However she kept on standing by the tree, smiling at me. She had probably noticed how I had always been staring at the view behind her, while she had been entering my bedroom.

I crouched down and ran my fingers slowly through the grass. My eyes closed and I concentrated on the smell. At that moment I felt so content and at peace that I forgot about my lingering fears.

After a while I went up to the tree and touched its bark. I directed my gaze towards Koyama-sensei, who was still watching me, with what I recognized as pity in her eyes. She then pointed to all the doors but the one to my room and formed a sentence out of the words I already knew.

"You can't go there."

I looked dejected to the ground and answered with a soft "Hai".

"You can be here when I'm not here."

I felt much better at once. Now, I didn't have to be caged in that room.

Following her last sentence, came a cheerful "Goodbye" and sensei left through one of the doors.

I planned on staying for a while longer. I went to the other side of the inner yard and looked around. The building was built like the traditional japanese houses I saw in anime and books about Japan. It was all out of wood and natural materials like paper. The distance between the veranda and the ground, wasn't much, but I still pondered if it was possible for me to crawl under it. Maybe later at night. I hadn't seen any guards yet, so maybe there weren't any. Yes, I had to try! It could be my chance! I looked at the door, which Koyama-sensei used to leave. It could be the direction to the exit. But I had no idea if this house was fully on stilts. Weren't they usually only built that way, when they were on an uneven ground or in water? I had no answer for that question, so I decided to wait a little bit more and think my plan through. It would be probably good to gather a little bit more food that what I had hidden in my closet. A bottle of water would be great too if I only had a backpack..

Still in thoughts, I turned back to my room. I noticed absently that there was a mountain in front of me. I looked up and my mouth fell open. I was looking directly at a weird knock off of the Mount Rushmore. It was eerily similar to a certain other mountain.. Four gigantic heads were carved into it, all of them rocking very unusual hairstyles. Well, the first one with his hippies look seemed the most normal, since he had no crazy spiky hair like the rest. I had only seen these kind of hairstyles in Visual Key bands and… It couldn't be. That was impossible. I looked to the tree. Maybe, if I could climb it, I would be able to see the rest of this.. town? Village?

A yukata was definitely not the attire to do it in, so I went back to my room and changed into my nightgown. It ended before my knee, making moving easier.

I left my flip-flops next to the tree and started to climb to the first branch. When I stood on it, I looked up to see how to climb further up.

"Roth-san."

I screamed and turned my head to the right to see who spoke to me. There, on the branch right next to me stood a teen with short black hair and completely white eyes wearing a short sleeved hoodie. What caught my eyes the most was the blue headband on his forehead. That symbol.. It was the same as the one in that anime.. A weeabo? But how did he appear so fast. And what about the mountain? It was big enough to be noticed by the rest of the world. It should have been all over the media.

"Roth-san?"

He wanted me to get down, I guessed. At least he wasn't being unnecessarily brutal.

"I.. see.. ehm the village," I tried to explain myself. He was a little bit younger than me and had, in contrast to his muscled body, still a child like face. It made me feel a little bit more at ease with him. Like he wouldn't drag me immediately to Scarface.

"No, you can't," he said. Oh, he thought I was asking him to let me see the village.. or town.

"Ah, I'm sorry," I said and climbed down. When I was finally on the ground, the boy nodded and disappeared. Like… one moment he was there and the next he was gone. How was that possible? It went against the laws of physics and human biology. There was no one around. Not on the veranda, not on the roof. How? It couldn't be real. It just couldn't. Was something wrong with me?

'Calm down, calm down," I chanted in my mind, but my heart couldn't stop beating at a fast rate.

'I need to rest. And then maybe things will look clearer..' I decided and went back to my room.

So there was a chance I was in Konoha. Or I had completely lost my mind in the interrogation room.


End file.
